This invention relates to an imaging apparatus having the function to secure a wide dynamic range in the imaging operation and thus capable of picking up an image of a scene large in dynamic range.
One example of the conventional technique in the background of this invention is disclosed in JP-A-2007-288805. The technique disclosed in this publication is intended to “achieve the optimum AE (automatic exposure control) in both the high-brightness object imaging operation and the low-brightness object imaging operation”. This technique discloses a solving means in which “two imaging operations including the high-brightness object imaging operation and the low-brightness object imaging operation are performed and the resulting two images are synthesized and output. Also, the exposure processing unit 6B of the DSP (digital signal processor) 6 includes a switch 7C to switch the signal path for the long-time exposure and the short-time exposure, a long-time exposure signal processing unit 7A to process the signal for long-time exposure, a short-time exposure signal processing unit 7B to process the signal for short-time exposure, and a synthesis unit (MIX) 7D to synthesize the signals of the exposure processing units 7A, 7B. In the OPDs (optical detection circuits) 18A, 18B included in the exposure signal processing units 7A, 7B, respectively, the brightness distribution is determined for the long-time exposure and the short-time exposure independently of each other thereby to control the exposure amount optimally”.